Carlo Conti, artistic director for the 2017 Sanremo Music Festival, has announced that 60 artists will compete for six spots in the new talents category, while 20 established artists will perform the first evening followed by voting from the press corps and public.
Previously, the 'Champions' category featuring established artists was divided into two groups that performed over the course of the first and second evenings.
The 67th edition of the much-loved annual music competition will open on February 7, 2017 and run for a total of five evenings, closing on February 11.
The festival's music commission, made up of TV journalist Gianmaurizio Foderaro, actress and TV host Carolina Di Domenico, guitarist and conductor Pinuccio Pirazzoli, and DJ Ema Stokholma, chose the 60 newcomer competitors from among 572 submissions, several of whom have previously participated in Italian TV talent shows.
Six were on 'Amici', hosted by Maria De Filippi: Chiara Grispo, Lele Esposito, La Rua, Gerardo Pulli (who won the 2012 edition of Amici), Luca Tudisca, Enrico Nigiotti (who competed in the new talents category at Sanremo in 2015) and Martha Rossi.
Four others - Cristiano Turrini, Dylan Magon, Noemi Smorra, and Francesco Guasti - starred on The Voice of Italy. Other notable newcomers include turquoise-haired DJ and singer Ketty Passa; Riky Anelli, who participated in the 2001 festival; and Marianne Mirage.
All 60 tracks in the newcomers category have been uploaded for the public at the festival's website.
Live auditions for the 60 competitors will be held in Rome on October 25, from which 12 will be selected to continue on to the second stage competition called "Sarà Sanremo".
From there, six finalists will be chosen to compete in February at the Ariston Theatre in Sanremo, together with two other artists from "Area Sanremo" preliminary competition.
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